Did you have a great time at a camp, retreat or reunion this summer? Did you attend Mission Conference? Did your congregation hold a special event? Did you volunteer this summer? Tell us about your experience in 1 to 5 sentences and send along a photo. Please submit by October 8th for our next issue of What’s Up…in the CWM.

To those of you who are being invited for the first time, welcome we hope you will join us this year. The Community of Christ is a global church committed to the Pursuit of Peace We Proclaim Jesus Christ and Promote Communities of Joy, Hope, Love and Peace. We work to be the hands and feet of Christ in our world and believe that we as disciples have a place in bringing about the Beloved Community of God here on earth. This years guest minister is Frank Young a missionary from Montana who has been actively living out his discipleship in the First Nations communities and working to re-integrate released offenders into the community as whole people with a grounding in Christ. Frank has a wealth of experience and has also served as the chaplain to the Billings, MT Police service. This is a weekend where we get to hang out and fellowship and re-connect with our God and old friends and establish new friendships. The weekend starts on Friday night and ends Sunday at noon. We try hard not to try to hard so there is time just to hang out because we hate having every second of our lives filled. We hit all ages – high school to 88 years old and have the complete spectrum of attendees – theologists, members,friends of members, unchurched, 5 year veterans and rookies. We eat often – and well. Please register with Dan Esch ddesch@sasktel.net or on the 6th Annual Community of Christ Mens Retreat facebook page by September 10 so we have an accurate count for our cooks who we definitely want to keep happy!

Sept 23

7:00 pm Registration

8:00 pm Mixer/Compete - Justin Fisher

8:45 pm Snack

Sept 24

8:30 am Morning Devotion

9:00 am Breakfast/Dishes

10:00 am Session 1

10:45 am Break

11:00 am Session 2

12:00 pm Lunch/Dishes

1:45 pm Session 3

2:45 pm Be as active as your want. Some guys are cutting down trees. Some guys walk the labyrinth, sit around, play football or soccer

5:30 pm Supper/Pie/Dishes

7:00 pm Session 4

8:00 pm Campfire/Worship

9:00 pm Games/Hang Out/Eat

Sept 25

9:00 am Breakfast/Dishes

10:00 am Cleanup

10:30 am Worship

11:59 am Head for home

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The annual Saskatchewan Retreat will be hosted by the Saskatoon Congregation the weekend of October 28/29/30. Guest Ministry is Sherry and Dave Long. More details will follow soon.

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Mission Conference 2012 Regina, Saskatchewan

Mark your Calendar for next year – Mission Conference in Regina, Saskatchewan

August 31st – September 2nd

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In the Forefront Special Edition for 9/11

Peace and Justice -- Human Rights

While this is a monthly newsletter, on rare occasions a Special Edition is created, in this case for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The purpose is not to offer yet another perspective on 9/11 – the media is awash in them. Rather, while it can’t avoid its own perspective, this Special Edition is geared more to be reflective in nature, allowing you to ponder certain questions as you have digested some of the 9/11 coverage thus far and as you encounter further coverage. Basically this newsletter would be remiss if it remained silent during such analyses of the seismic shifts that have taken place since 9/11.

Related, I have finally created an associated blog for this newsletter. I felt it was important that this not be a one-way channel. And while people could always email me back (and occasionally did), a blog – a web forum for comments and discussions – seems much more suitable. Specifically it seemed vital for the Special Edition. That said, please note that the blog (very elementary at the moment) is not specifically for Community of Christ, but for a much broader list, so don’t presume anyone will understand terminology specific to Community of Christ, not even religious language in general.

And while on the topic of social media, for anyone who uses Twitter, there has been an account there for sometime – just follow @UntilAll (no time to formally put it in this newsletter).

Finally, on a separate topic: Since the deadline will approach before the next normal newsletter, there are grants open to U.S. students interested in social change projects, indicated below. Plus a small enticement for anyone who is interested in creating a logo for the www.UntilAll.org endeavour.

“After yesterday's horrific deaths due to terrorist action, this email endeavour would be remiss if it remained silent. Remembering that these emails are simply a forum for action and not in-depth analysis and discussion (needed as they are and available elsewhere), the following actions are given for your consideration:”

A link to the full email is below. But I wanted to highlight two notions for reflection as the tenth anniversary coverage unfolds, largely by posing questions. They are contained in the following two blog entries:

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First Consideration

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Here is the first snippet from the email of ten years ago:

“We can help bring a broader, more solid perspective into the overall dynamics . . .

(a) EMPATHY: Even as a Canadian, the sight of the massive towers collapsing, the loss of life, the vulnerability of even the Pentagon, was traumatic and jolting. And yet I had a hard time saying that "this email would be remiss" unless it is thus always remiss - violent deaths of innocent people occur daily around this planet. I am generally so insulated from all the suffering and violence . . . but at least here is an opening for empathy. We can try to channel the reaction to one of empathy and understanding for all those who are innocent yet traumatized for whatever reason . . . We have a gut-wrenching glimmer of what some people constantly face. Let's use it to build bridges and understanding and action.”

“(b) ROOT CAUSES: While nothing could possibly justify the abhorrent terrorist acts, and terrorists need to be stopped, there are nonetheless root causes for the violence in this world. We can add our voices to those who suggest the only long-term way out of the spiral of violence, fear and hate is a more just sharing of the world's resources including issues of power.”

If you want to work toward real change in your community and growing the social justice movement, Campus Progress provides campaign support and grants of up to $1,500 to young people working on strategic organizing and advocacy campaigns.

I am hoping to update my website (www.UntilAll.org ). It really is more accurately described simply as a web repository, since it has never changed to modern web-site formatting and really just provides the most basic space for archiving reference articles. As part of that it will need a logo. If you are interested in creating one, please reply to this email and I will give you the basic idea. Your reward? Either some great Fair Trade chocolate or organic T-shirt or whatever else we can mutually agree on.

About This Blog

The CWM Weekly Ann­ounce­ment blog keeps you up to date with what is happening in the Canada West Mission. It is usually published every Thursday – enter your email below to automatically receive every new post in your email inbox.